The present invention relates generally to baled crop material processors and more particularly to a round bale processor with side discharge.
Crop materials, such as straw, hay or other like forage, or animal bedding, are often baled for storage and transportation. It is then necessary to disintegrate the bale in order to spread the crop material for animal bedding or to dispense the crop material as feed.
A typical baled crop material processor for disintegrating bales of crop material machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,292 which issued to Frey on May 16, 1989. A baled crop material processor basically comprises a container for receiving the bales, a disintegrator often in the form of a roller with cutters or flails for chopping or shredding the material from the bale, a mechanism including manipulator rollers to direct the bale to the disintegrator and a discharge opening at the side of the processor such that the crop material is discharged from the bail processor. Any number of manipulator rollers are possible, however, the disintegrator is normally located between and below two of the manipulator rollers. The baled crop material is supported and rotated by the rollers. As the crop material bale rotates the disintegrator breaks apart the outer portion of the baled crop material first and then proceeds to break apart the crop material towards the centre of the bale until all of the crop material is disintegrated. As the baled crop material is disintegrated, the loose crop material is driven by the flails to be discharged from the machine through the discharge opening. The discharged crop material may be used as feed in the form of windrows or in feed bunks, or then again as animal bedding which requires that it be scattered.
More recent developments in baled crop material processors are described in Canadian Patent Applications 2,282,334; 2,282,353 and 2,282,895 which were filed on Sep. 17, 1999. These processors include a bale receiving container which has a bottom, a front wall, a back wall, a left side wall and a right side wall. A disintegrator is mounted inside the container for disintegrating the baled crop material and for discharging the disintegrated crop material from the processor. The processor further includes a mechanism for supporting and manipulating the crop material as it is being disintegrated by the disintegrator and an opening at the bottom of one of the side walls through which the disintegrated crop material is discharged.
A problem that sometimes occurs in bale processors is that crop materials may get clogged between the mechanism for manipulating the crop material and the adjacent side wall at the discharge opening. Therefore there is a need for a bale processor that resists such clogging.
This invention is directed to a processor for disintegrating baled crop material. It comprises front and back walls, and first and second side walls forming a container for receiving a bale. A disintegrator is mounted inside the container and at least two manipulator rollers are also mounted inside the container substantially parallel to the disintegrator with the manipulator roller axes located above the disintegrator. At least one roller is located on each side of the disintegrator. A discharge opening is located at the bottom of the first side wall which ends below the manipulator, while the second side wall extends down past one of the manipulator rollers under the disintegrator.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the disintegrator may comprise a flail roller extending between the front and the back of the container and mounted to rotate about its own longitudinal axis such that the flails drive the bale material along the bottom of the container and out of the discharge opening. The sides of the discharge opening are defined by the front and the back walls, the bottom of the discharge opening is defined by the second side wall and the top of the discharge opening is defined by the first side wall.
Regarding another aspect of the invention, an elongated baffle located adjacent the disintegrator on the side of the container having the discharge opening. The baffle surface facing the disintegrator may be planar or curvilinear. In addition the baffle may be fixed to the front and back walls or moveably mounted on the front and back walls allowing the baffle to be adjusted.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the bale processor further comprises a number of hoops mounted in spaced relationship within the container along the container length and positioned above and substantially perpendicular to axes of the flail roller and the manipulator rollers. The ends of the hoops may be mounted through the first side wall and through the second side wall or one end of the hoops may be mounted through the second side wall while the other ends of the hoops be fixed to the baffle.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.